A History of Agriculture in India v1.c11.s3: Australopithecines
A History of Agriculture in India v1.c11.s3
- Language
- English
Australopithecines
v1.c11.s3.1
The oldest find of *Australopithecus* skeletons is from the Hadar Lake near the Awash River in Ethiopia by Johanson and Taieb⁶ (1974-75). It is about three million years old. The discovery of a part of a leg-bone and the lower end of a thigh-bone indicated that these were of a bipedal creature.
v1.c11.s3.2
⁶ Johanson, D.G. *Family of Early Man*, *National Geographic*, Dec. 1976
v1.c11.s3.3
The jaws were rounded in front, and the front and back teeth were evenly proportioned. A skeleton of a female was also discovered. The angle of the thigh-bone and the flattened surface of its knee-joint end prove that she walked on two legs. The narrow incisors of the lower jaw resemble those of *Australopithecus*. Close to the remains of a child lay those of five adults, near the lake margin. It seems that a family of six got buried by a flash flood.
v1.c11.s3.4
From the point of view of age, the next finds are from Transvaal, *Australopithecus africanus* and *A. robustus*, about two million years old (Dart, 1924; Broom, 1936). From the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, *Australopithecus boisei* (1959) and *Homo habilis* (1961), both 1.8 million years old, were discovered by Louis and Mary Leakey. From Lake Turkana in Kenya, a *Homo* skull, two to three million years old, and a 1.5-million-year-old *Homo erectus* skull were discovered by R. Leakey (1975). From Laetali in Tanzania, 3.35- to 3.75-million-year-old *Homo* jaw-bones and teeth were discovered by Mary Leakey (1974-75).
v1.c11.s3.5
The subfamily Australopithecinae is divided into two genera, *Australopithecus* and *Paranthropus*.
v1.c11.s3.6
*Paranthropus* was more robust, and his height is thought to be between 1.5 and 1.55 metres and his weight about 70 kilogrammes. Some characteristics of his long bones indicate that his posture was not completely erect, and that he carried his head lower than *Australopithecus*. *Paranthropus* persisted for nearly three million years without any further fundamental development, and was adapted to living in closed woodlands, with a vegetarian diet.
v1.c11.s3.7
The representatives of the genus *Australopithecus* were more gracefully slight in build; they might have been about 1.2 metres tall, and weighed about 40 kilogrammes. The dentition of Australopithecines comes closest to that of man, with *Dryopithecus* pattern in the relative dimensions of the molars, and especially the small incisors and canines, which do not project above the occlusal line. Dentition suggests that they were omnivorous.
v1.c11.s3.8
The profile of the skull has a characteristically shortened face, which is more upright than that of the apes; the brow-ridges are highly developed. The maximum volume of the brain-case of the large anthropoid apes is 480 cubic centimetres. The volume of the Australopithecine brain-case varies between 428 and 530 cubic centimetres. The Australopithecines were bipedal, and moved in more or less erect posture.
v1.c11.s3.9
*Homo habilis*. Louis and Mary Leakey (1961) discovered the remains of *Homo habilis* from the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. *Homo habilis* was about 1.25 metres tall, and weighed 40 to 50 kilogrammes. According to the dentition, he was omnivorous. His cranium was higher and noticeably rounded at the back of the head. The brain volume of *Homo habilis* was larger than that of an Australopithecine.
v1.c11.s3.10
The study of the bones of the foot showed two typical characteristics of man. Firstly, the big toe, which *Homo habilis* was able to move vertically. Secondly, *Homo habilis* possessed a double vault of the sole, a requirement for proper walking which the apes do not have.
v1.c11.s3.11
The stone tools found with the skeletal remains of *Homo habilis* are the most primitive of tools, and the hand of the maker must have been very similar to that of man. It has been suggested that *Australopithecus* used tools of natural objects of the shape suitable for the task. *Homo habilis*, however, used naturally shaped objects, and also manufactured real tools.
v1.c11.s3.12
The radiometric dating of *Homo habilis* shows that he is between 1.6 and 1.9 million years old. He lived at the same time as *Paranthropus boisei* in the Olduvai Gorge area.
v1.c11.s3.13
The findspots of the fossil man in Africa are shown in Fig. 20. It is also noteworthy that two apes which are nearest to man, viz. the chimpanzee and the gorilla, are also found in Africa.
v1.c11.s3.14
The Olduvai hominid sites are littered with bones of horses, zebras, and antelopes, some with their skulls cracked open. Shells of snails and tortoises are also found. In the faeces of these hominids are skeletal fragments of mice, shrews, lizards and small birds. This indicates that they were eaten whole. The long bones of animals might have been used as weapons, and the jaws with teeth as scrapers.